My Name My Story (MNMS) is a Youth Run Social Leadership Organization that involves students, faculty and the community in the spirit of “inspiring the next generation of leaders” and all actions of the organization are aligned with the philosophy of “Hope – Believe – Succeed –Inspire”

Our Goal: One Million Stories that Inspire.

Our Mission: To increase Unity, Tolerance and Empathy, in the community, while developing leaders.

Problem

Empathy! We started My Name My Story (MNMS) with a simple goal to inspire the youth. But in the wake of the recent tragic events in schools, and the overwhelming positive impact we have seen that MNMS has already made on the community, students, family and friends; we are passionate about setting up a MNMS School Club in every school and inspiring Empathy in communities around the world. MNMS solves a problem that is evident, but for today’s society it isn’t as apparent on how to solve. This problem has many names. Some may call it a lack of faith, where people give up on everyone that they love and believe in, and take their own lives. Some people may call it a dying economy, and escape the reality through drug abuse. Some people may call it a lack of initiative and drop out of school. And in the extreme case, some feel misunderstood and exert their frustration by violence in schools like the recent tragic events in schools across the US. According to several studies in the US: -7,000 high-school students drop out every day. -Almost 50 percent of 12th graders say that they've used drugs at least once in their lifetime. -A youth commits suicide every two hours in our country. Need we say more. We believe that when "youth talk to youth" they listen more, believe more and do more. Teenagers have a lot of energy, and a MNMS Club directs the energy that may otherwise have gone into something unproductive, and turn it into doing something positive.

Solution

The solution is easily put into the hands of middle and high school students by setting up Student Led, MNMS School Clubs. The club is easily formed and run by students, under the supervision of a proctor. The idea is that a MNMS School Club does not make itself an ‘exclusive’ club but can recognize and cooperate with other clubs on the campus. So how does My Name My Story cultivate empathy in schools? The answer is found in the ‘MNMS Activities’ the club is expected to perform: -The sharing of inspirational stories on the MNMS website, -Book Drives, -Random Acts of Kindness, -Projects covering the four fundamentals of MNMS: Hope, Believe, Succeed and Inspire, and -‘Live’ speaking events are one of the most powerful approaches that MNMS uses to accomplish their goal. These talks are called ‘MNMS Inspire Empathy Events,’ covering topics like friendship, unity, self-esteem, passion. In our opinion, there are multiple factors that give MNMS a unique edge: -Our organization is youth lead. -A MNMS School Club is easy to set up and operate. -The MNMS Activities are fun. -The multipronged approach of: an online website, live events and activities – provides something for everyone to get involved and experience MNMS. -Becoming a MNMS Leader provides a platform for individuals to develop themselves as future empathatic leaders of the community.

Example

Here is the Impact of MNMS for the last 12 months: - Number of Students attended a live "Inspire Empathy" Talk: 400+ - Total number of Books, Collected, Sorted and Donated: 18,000+ - Number of Children in Childrens Hospitals who got books: 1,500+ - Number of Students who received books through book drives: 3,000+ - Used Text Books (not usable in the US) sent to Asia: 600+ - We have also had 24,000+ visitors from 50 states and 80+ countries. We asked some of our Leaders why they got involved and what have they specifically gained by being involved in MNMS Activities. Here are some responses: “Being a part of MNMS has allowed me to make new friends and be a part of something important. I have learned that everyone has their own story and that we can all listen to each other and live harmoniously.” “MNMS has been one of the most eye opening experiences of my life. I have grown more tolerant, understanding, and compassionate of others through my work with this organization. It has easily been the most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life for not only myself but for those who I have helped directly and indirectly.” “MNMS has been a life-changing experience for me. It has taught me lessons and morals that I could not have learned anywhere else. It has helped me grow as a person and has shown me the capabilities of my talents.” “Being a part of the My Name My Story team has taught me that something so small like a book or to act as one's listening ears can change the way they look at life.” But truly, the most important thing that we need to measure is the Emotional Impact that MNMS is having. We cannot use charts, graphs, or proportions to measure this but every person is impacted in a different way based on what they are going through in their own lives, but let me tell you a few stories that should put a good sense of what MNMS does. At a recent "Inspire empathy" talk in a middle school, one of the students walked up to me at the end of my talk, gave me a hug and said the most genuine "thanks, you changed my life!" One of the elementary schools did a book drive to support schools on the east school, they had students that had never done any community service before. When I went to give the students certificates for their effort, some of the kids actually thanked me for giving them an opportunity to do something "to help others, it made them feel good." One of my friends brother was having trouble with his speech. They went to several doctors and he was diagnosed with a speech problem. The parents were both shocked and nervous. At the end of the week they called my father. This was the first time my dad had heard about this and he too was quite shocked. But when he met them he noticed there was sense of peace about the couple. My dad curiously asked, “How are you handling this?” The mother smiled and said, “We’re not worried. We know how this story plays out! We’ve read Amit’s story on MNMS!” Once again, my belief got validated that: MNMS gives hope! MNMS was changing people’s lives! Furthermore, something that we have realized at MNMS is that the stories are not just an inspiration to those that read them, but also a bowl of faith for those that write them. For example, I received a submission from a "Bobby.” I had known him as one of the most joyful men I’ve ever met, and he always brought a smile to people’s faces. I knew what we were doing was changing lives, when he posted a Facebook status that said, “I know I already post this, but I would really appreciate for anyone who has the time to read it. I've kept many things away from people, but I can finally put my past behind me and look towards a promising future ♥” When I read that, tears started to go down my eyes to see what telling a story had done for this man. They say that when a stone hits the surface of a lake, the ripples it leaves continue to spread throughout the water. The ripples that MNMS makes will last forever.

Marketplace

We recognize that there are a lot of organizations working on the issue of inspiring Empathy. Some approach the students, some the teachers, and some the parents. We will all need work in tandem to create a compassionate community. As a social enterprise, we know that each organization has to focus on their strength – we will focus on working with the youth, and we look forward to complementing the work of all the other organization in our sphere.